The Bachelorette is down to the final four contestants, but one of them has an ego problem, and the now-departed Brayden should’ve kicked his a** when he said he would.
Although Aaron is liked by some viewers, not everyone is convinced, and I guess it’s obvious I’m not either. The main reasons have to do with his reactions to heated situations on the show, and how poorly he deals with his emotions, which is clearly not something he wants the Bachelorette herself, Charity Lawson, to know.
Aaron is the kind of guy whose red flags are kept in his pocket; he doesn’t wave them for all to see, but he’s likely also convinced himself that he doesn’t have any. Those whose red flags are obvious are usually less risky, because women won’t waste time with them — or if they do, they at least know what they’re getting into. A man with hidden red flags, on the other hand, poses a much bigger problem. With Aaron, in this less-than-convinced writer’s opinion, we have one such problematic man.
So far, this season has unsurprisingly been a wild one, and a difficult one to predict. Aaron initially charmed Charity by flipping a coin in situations where he had to decide on something potentially romantic. He did this when he first met her, saying if the coin came up heads, that they would eventually be engaged, but if it came up tails, then he would leave. He later took the same approach in regards to whether he should kiss her. Of course, it came up heads each time because Aaron, as he soon confessed, was flipping a double-headed coin. The humorous thing, though, is that Charity likely knew this the whole time.
However, after first seeing Aaron flip that coin, I remarked to a friend of mine something I now wholeheartedly believe: Aaron seems like he’s trying hard to be charming, because he isn’t naturally charming.
To a lot of women, this probably makes sense without further explanation. …By the way, I should point out that I’m a heterosexual man — and dare I say, a charming heterosexual man? Hey, I know it’s not up for me to decide, actually, and maybe Aaron can write about me someday. Today, however, it’s me writing about Aaron.
In the beginning, Aaron quickly established a connection with Charity, but has since started to realize something shocking — that other men get to charm Charity also, and some of them don’t need a coin to do it.
Brayden wasn’t even trying that hard, and though I understand why people weren’t crazy about him, Charity was. He was the one who won her first impression rose, despite her connection with Aaron, and she rather liked that Brayden was so vocal to the other men about the fact that she liked him. Of course, this made many of the men feel utterly insecure, which I found rather entertaining.
As a result, some of the so-called men complained to Charity about Brayden, instead of just getting to know her better, which added more humor for us viewers. This eventually led to Brayden’s strange departure from the show, as Charity seemed much more influenced by the others’ negative reaction to Brayden than by her own positive feelings for him.
Then, something odd happened. Brayden returned, maybe to give his earrings even more airtime, but also really to try to win Charity over. Though when he realized that Charity wasn’t interested in such a plot twist, he changed gears and instead apologized while also wishing her well, thus leaving on good terms.
While Brayden was leaving, however, Aaron confronted him, literally getting in his way, and demanded he apologize, though Brayden wisely kept walking. Shortly after, getting into the van which was to take him away, he casually mentioned that all the other suitors were a**holes, which (understandably) infuriated Aaron.
Brayden offered to kick Aaron’s a**, but was surprisingly met with Aaron no longer demanding an apology, but instead demanding someone close the van door, and telling the driver to step on the gas and get Brayden out of there. I always find it curious when the guy who physically confronts someone, is the one backing down a moment later.
Fast forward to this week, and here we have Charity taking a liking to Joey, Dotun, and Xavier. All three men she gave roses to, and all three have something Aaron doesn’t — emotional maturity.
However, Charity also gave Aaron a rose, to his relief. If she was privy to his honest annoyed reactions, however, Aaron may not be as lucky as calling heads on a double-headed coin.
While others were on one-on-one dates with Charity, Aaron wasn’t, though he did ultimately have a group date. And while she was spending time with the others, Aaron was not happy at all. This was partly because they were all visiting New Orleans, which just so happens to be a place that Aaron apparently once called his hometown.
At first, he seemed somewhat understanding, saying, “She has to explore connections, but at the same time, I’m holding on to what happened four weeks ago, which feels like six months at this point.”
Then he got a little worried, referring to next week being Hometowns, saying “Charity needs to meet my parents, so I need to get that one-on-one time.”
When Charity chose Dotun for that next one-on-one date, it didn’t sit well with Aaron, as the look on his face clearly revealed. He later said, unhappily, “I’ve been extremely tested.”
Ooh boy. In the moment, however, he told one of the other men, “It’s not that I’m not happy for Dotun, it’s just I don’t know what this f***ing means.”
OK, some frustration is understandable, but it’s not difficult to figure out what Charity choosing Dotun means. It means she is making her decisions, which is pretty much how the show works.
Aaron’s reactions kept getting worse, though, as he grumbled, “Can’t really focus on your actual relationship when this sh** keeps taking over.”
OK. What sh** is taking over, exactly? Charity’s utter audacity to go on dates with the other guys? You don’t even need to have watched the show before to know that going on dates with everyone is what the Bachelorette is actually supposed to do.
“It confuses me.”
What confuses you, Aaron?! This show has been on the air for how long? Yet every season, we see at least one suitor unable to understand that the show will continue to have the Bachelorette (or the Bachelor) dating all the candidates, even if you don’t want them to.
Yet Aaron apparently cannot comprehend anything less than Charity’s exclusivity. “This is not cool at all,” he said.
It’s one thing to feel frustrated, it’s a whole other thing to express an opinion that Charity dating others is not cool, and that it confuses you, and that you can’t focus on the relationship because she isn’t exclusive to you on — again — a competitive dating show (shocking!).
The funniest realization that Aaron came to was when he said, “I’m actually here for Charity, I’m not just about to act like it’s all peaches and cream out here — it’s not.”
The others are also here for Charity too, and she is doing her very best to be there for them, and get to know them all so that she can make the best decisions about whom to keep. Why does this always surprise people? Maybe suitors like Aaron want to be the only one the Bachelorette dates because they likely know, deep down, that the others are better options.
Aaron concluded his feelings about Charity seeing the other men by saying, “I’m fu**ing pissed.”
This is the same guy who said in a previous episode, “I feel very protective of Charity’s emotions.”
Now, I personally think that’s a slightly creepy thing to say for a guy who basically just met Charity, and is one of many that she’s dating. However, putting aside the creepiness for a moment, it does reveal — at least in theory — that Aaron cares about Charity’s feelings. So, shouldn’t he care about her happiness? It’s more likely that he only cares whether or not she likes him. How dare she like Brayden? In fact, Aaron targeted Brayden because of it. How dare she like these other guys? How could she like anyone else when she has Aaron to date?
Does any of that sound narcissistic to you? It does to me.
The truth is that the show makes it very clear that there will be no exclusivity — unless you’re Clare Crawley, but that’s a whole different story that didn’t end well for her because of her foolish decision.
What lies ahead for Charity is likely a problem, if she chooses Aaron. The other three men have no such issues. Aaron is the only one remaining who has what I consider an ego problem. And hey, maybe I’m totally wrong. Yet Aaron’s words speak for themselves.
However, the biggest problem with Aaron is, quite simply, this: He knows that Charity genuinely deserves happiness, but he genuinely only wants Charity to deserve him.
Published: Jul 25, 2023 07:02 pm